adj. 1. Having one or more distinguishing marks. 2. Clearly defined and evident; noticeable: a marked increase in temperature. See Synonyms at noticeable. 3. Singled out, especially for a dire fate: a marked man. 4. Linguistics a. Of or relating to that member of a pair of words or forms that explicitly denotes a particular subset of the meanings denoted by the other member of the pair. For example, of the two words lion and lioness, lion is unmarked for gender (it can denote either a male or female) whereas lioness is marked, since it denotes only females. b. Explicitly characterized by or having a particular linguistic feature. For example, girls is marked for plural in English, whereas sheep is not. marked·ly (märkĭd-lē) adv. marked·ness n. |
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